Flesh To Aura Version 1
by Tactition101
Summary: RWBY SI. So, apparently I'm now a War Mage thanks to a B.R.O.B. chucking me onto Remnant, which honestly I would have been perfectly fine with. However there's just one problem. Why the hell do I have to go back to HIGH SCHOOL! Rated T for Swearing and gratuitous combat.
1. Chapter 1

Flesh To Aura Version 1

Summary: RWBY SI. So, apparently I'm now a War Mage thanks to a B.R.O.B. chucking me onto Remnant, which honestly I would have been perfectly fine with. However there's just one problem. Why the hell do I have to go back to HIGH SCHOOL?! Rated T for Swearing and gratuitous combat.

1\. Arrival

Story Start: Our Universe, My Bedroom

It was instinct rather than hearing or sight that made me look up from my computer screen as I worked on one of my stories, that unquantifiable but no less important sense that had me glancing to the left as I just suddenly _knew_ that someone was now in my bedroom with me. The sight of the cloaked figure leaning against my dresser had me give a startled jerk of my body but thankfully I didn't fall out of my seat. Unfortunately, my mouth wasn't as restrained as the rest of my body, a fact proven by my first words to the figure.

"Who the _fuck_ are you?!"

The cloaked figure chuckled and said "Language Matthew."

I snorted and said "Sir, you are in my room uninvited, that's a bit more rude than me cussing at you."

I somehow knew the hooded figure was smirking at me as he said "And there's that wit that makes you one of my favorite humans to go to for entertainment, regardless of which version you are."

Version? My eyes narrowed as I said "I assume by version you are implying you are capable of traversing the multi-verse."

Now I could tell that the figure was grinning at me as he said "The Multi-Verse Theory is always one of your favorite non-provable things to believe in, it's what makes chucking you into new worlds so less irritable than if I did it to some close-minded fool."

My eyes stayed narrowed as I said "You've translocated 'me' before? That implies…" My eyes widened as the penny finally dropped for me and I said "Taifun."

"_Good_." The now identified R.O.B. said, though given his words, maybe B.R.O.B. fit him after all. Hearing that thought, he chuckled and said "Oh come now Matthew, you and I both know that I am not like that Bastard that chucked Cross into a One Piece world and then gave him a biscuit right off the bat just to see that gastrointestinal disaster. _I_ at least give you tools to properly survive in your new world. After all, humans are rather squishy in the Transformers Prime section of the multiverse, aren't they?"

I _should_ have been surprised at his words, really, I should have, but the fact that three other versions of me became badass autonomous robotic lifeforms in another universe after a highway crash because of a Randomly Omnipotent Being made _far_ more sense than such a thing happening naturally. Actually, it looked like I had discovered who the 'drunk god' that dropped another version of me into Awakening was as well. Giving a sigh, I said "Alright Taifun, where are you sending _me_ then?" It wasn't like I could actually _stop_ the guy from doing this after all.

Taifun chuckled and said "I was thinking the world of Remnant would be a nice change of pace for you."

I frowned and cocked my head as I said "I don't know much about the source material I'm afraid."

Taifun's hood shifted juuuust enough that I could see the wicked grin he was sporting as he said "I know, you've only seen up to the team designation part of the show, but you and I both know you've read quite a few RWBY stories, including the LOOPS version, which gives you a bit of a head's up."

"Well there is that." I admitted, finally turning my chair towards him and leaning back in it as I said "So what's the trade off this time?" Putting me on Remnant as I was was even more of a death sentence then putting me in a TFP verse as a human after all. At least there the common human didn't have Grimm to deal with.

Taifun held up two fingers and said "You have two choices. I'm going to convert you to an age that would be appropriate for a Beacon student, though of course you don't have to go there if you really don't want to. In return, all of the converted body mass will go into expanding your Aura pool so that way you don't run out of it within the first minute. This Aura Pool will power one of two Semblances. You can either become your version of a War Mage OR, you can switch between your human body and Tac, though you will only be able to maintain your thirty foot tall form for five minutes before running out of Aura and turning back into a human. Though you _could_ find a big enough water supply to convert to Aura and extend that time."

"I suppose the smaller version is a lot less Aura intensive?" I asked and Taifun nodded. It did make sense. After all, the material making said thirty foot tall murder bot had to come from _somewhere_ so it would then follow that my Aura reserves would be making up the slack. I gave a sigh and slouched a little in my chair as I considered my options.

Option 1: War Mage

Four spell sigils, one on each palm of my hand and sole of my feet. EXTREMELY versatile since they had ten spell classes, Wind, Water, Fire, Lightning, Earth, Light, Dark, Gravity, Space, and Staff, with 'levels' from E to S and three spells per level, giving me a hundred and eighty spells total. However, with my Aura powering this version I couldn't know how often or long I could use the higher levels of spells before I ran out. There was no point in using an S Level Light Tsunami spell to wipe out hordes of Grim in one shot or an S Level Regenerate to give someone back an arm if it meant I lost all of my aura immediately after and was then just as helpless as any other shmuck on that planet until my Aura recovered.

Option 2: Tac

The ability to turn into a mechanized soldier with Vibrational Swords, two Energon Pistols, a Sonic Resonator Blaster, three missiles, and a mini forge. I of course had to assume said weapons would run off of my Aura. There was also the ability to transform into a jet making travel times much smaller along with enabling air combat. And couldn't forget the fact that I could turn into a giant on top of that. But the fact remained, my aura reserves would determine how long I could remain in said Autobot form. If I had access to at least a big enough stream then _theoretically_ I wouldn't run out of Aura in a fight, and nothing said I couldn't carry water out in the field in a camel pack or something. Though if I wasn't able to keep at least the swords or pistols when I wasn't made out of metal I would have to buy back up weapons, which would be annoying.

I bowed my head in thought and considered my options for three minutes, going back and forth on which option would be the best one to keep me alive. Finally though, I gave a sigh and looked up at Taifun and said "I choose the War Mage option."

Taifun stood up fully and said "Very well then." Suddenly going from my dresser to standing in front of me without seeming to move, he put a gloved hand on my forehead and said "Now I'm not going to lie here, the de-aging and mass to Aura conversion processes are going to be painful as hell so I think it's best if you're not aware for this." That was all the warning I got before my surroundings completely changed.

Scene Change: Remnant, Vale Shopping District, March 1

I blinked as I suddenly went from sitting in my bedroom to standing on a rooftop. My body swayed as my mind took a moment to try and make sense of what it was perceiving now. Once I got my mental equilibrium back, I began taking stock of myself. I was still six feet tall thankfully, but my entire body was much thinner, my arms and legs lacking the muscle mass a decade of physical labor jobs had given them. Before I could lift roughly four hundred pounds at the extreme max. Now it was probably only two hundred pounds, though since I wasn't planning on using a war hammer as a weapon that wasn't really a problem.

I was wearing the usual for the time of year back home, jeans, t-shirt, and my favorite, and only, Carhartt jacket that had been with me since high school. A quick pat down had shown that once again, Taifun had been kind enough to send my phone with me, it resting in its usual spot in my left jean pocket. Apparently, he had also sent my wallet with me as well going by the bulge in the jeans' right pocket.

My inspection of what I came with came to an end when I heard the unmistakable sounds of gun shots. Instinctively ducking, it took a moment for me to realize no, I wasn't being shot at and still crouched I looked down in the street to see a little munchkin using her gun scythe to smack around some Mafia wannabe thugs.

"Huh, right at the start of the pilot episode. Well, you can't say Taifun doesn't have good timing." I mused to myself as I watched Roman Torchwick take a quick shot at her before making a run for it to a rooftop three buildings away. Watching him climb, I hesitated for a brief moment before I tsked to myself and said "_Why _can't I just leave well enough alone?"

Instinct briefly took over and my Spell Sigils lit up green as I 'powered up' and brought my new Aura reserves to readiness. I Negated myself, dropping my weight by half and sprinted across the rooftops, clearing the gap between mine and the next one easily and continued my sprint. Hearing the sound of engines spinning up, I threw my arms behind my back and used Wind Jet to speed up even further.

I saw Roman throw the Burn crystal in his hand at the rooftop in front of Ruby's feet and as he began lifting his cane gun, time seemed to slow down as my body increased the flow of adrenaline in my body. I increased the Negate of my body (Ha!) to ten pounds and took one more leap that took me all the way across the last gap to land by Ruby's feet, Wind Jets cutting off halfway through the air as all four of my Spell Sigils prepared for a collaborative spell.

(Third POV)

Ruby's eyes widened as she saw Roman point his gun at the Dust in front of her and fired. But just as the shot ignited the crystal a figure suddenly appeared right in front of her with arms crossed and palms facing forward. The explosion slammed into a transparent but shimmering barrier, a purple glyph behind it and as the smoke cleared, the figure looked to his right and said "Glynda Goodwitch, how nice of you to drop by. You realize I had that right?"

Ruby startled a little as a strictly dressed woman with a purple cape that was a bit tattered at the end who was NOT there a few seconds ago pushed her glasses up her nose and said "It is not wise to take chances when dealing with explosions young man."

"Fair enough." The still unknown teenager said as he dropped his crossed arms, his barrier dropping as he did so before he turned his gaze back forward and thrust out his hand towards the hovering bullhead holding the thief Ruby had chased as he shouted out "THUNDER!" To her amazement, a bolt of electricity launched itself from the palm of his hand and slammed into the portside turbine of the bullhead causing the engine to begin sparking. As the hovercraft began swaying in the air, the man narrowed his eyes and said "Now we see if I can handle a _real_ fire fight."

Glynda and Ruby could only wonder at what the stranger meant for a moment before Roman switched places with the pilot who walked up to the hatch of the bullhead, her head and upper torso hidden by shadows even as the Dust in her dress lit up showing that it was a Dustcaster and her hands formed fireballs. Seeing a glow beneath his feet the teenager leapt to the left, his leap somehow taking him all the way to the left edge of the building, though Ruby barely noticed, having been telekinetically thrown to the side as Glynda also leapt away. And not a moment too soon as the spot they just left erupted in a pillar of fire.

The sound of cracking knuckles filled the air before the boy thrust out his left arm and a second bolt of electricity flew out and slammed into the cockpit of the bullhead causing it to begin wildly bucking in the air. Their opponent quickly grabbed the side of the bullhead hatch to keep from falling out even as she launched a fireball at the teen. He intercepted the shot with a ball of water causing it to turn into a small cloud of steam and Ruby briefly wondered where he was hiding his Dustcasters before she shook her head and shifted Crescent Rose into rifle mode and fired three shots at the enemy, only for the shots to be blocked by her aura as she moved her free hand to intercept them.

Glynda rejoined the fight at that point, gesturing with her riding crop and making the melted roof fragments from the fire geyser form into a large spear that began spinning even as it launched towards the bullhead. Another fireball slammed into the projectile causing it to break apart but Glynda merely had the shards slam into the Bullhead, though they didn't seem to damage it further. And then the stranger used ANOTHER element as a bolt of light slammed into the already damaged port side turbine. No, not slammed, _punched through_, the bolt of energy coming out the other side just as fast as it entered and shooting off into the sky before dissipating.

Needless to say, the engine was a lost cause at that point and its remains spewed out black smoke as the bullhead spun and crashed to the ground. The stranger shot to the edge of the roof and leapt off, Glynda doing the same and Ruby was quick to follow.

(1st POV)

I landed in a crouch with both palms facing the surprisingly still mostly intact wreck. I idly noted Glynda and Ruby landing as well but kept my gaze on the crash. But after a minute of no sign of Roman or Cinder coming out, I stood up and cautiously made my way to the wreck. Glynda met me at it, and I gave her a glance that she returned before the pair of us entered the cargo hold. Nothing, and nothing in the cockpit either. The two had somehow escaped.

Dropping my palms with a sigh, I let out a muttered "Damnit, they got away."

"Language young man, though I agree it is frustrating they aren't here." Glynda said, once more pushing her glasses up.

I gave her an amused look before I looked out of the bullhead as I heard the sirens that had been ringing ever since Ruby took out the last mook finally reaching us and said "And of course the police get here AFTER the action is all over." Glynda hummed an acknowledgement and I shook my head as we left the bullhead.

As soon as I was out, Ruby was right in my face and with an eager grin asked "How'd you make that barrier and throw around three elements like that without a Dustcaster or even any Dust crystals?"

"I would like to know that as well, but such discussions should be had somewhere else I believe." Glynda said, gesturing to the two police cars that had parked in front of the crash site.

Time Skip: Fifteen Minutes Later, Vale Police Headquarters

The trip here had been silent, Ruby cowed by Glynda to remain quiet as she sat between me and Ruby. As we reached the HQ, the cops asked for our IDs and while Ruby handed her Scroll over to be scanned then returned, I had a bit of a problem. I had pulled out my wallet and showed them the Driver's License held inside but given how the United States of America didn't exist here, never mind South Carolina, the police obviously assumed that it was some joke forgery. That and I didn't _quite_ look like my older self. I simply shrugged and said "That's the only kind of ID I have."

It took a thorough pat down and the fact that my phone couldn't give them the ID they were looking for for the police to decide that my Driver's License _would_ have to do, the officer at the scanning machine slipping it into a slot on the machine for a minute before returning it. Glynda of course was trying to burn a hole through my head with her intent gaze during all of this.

There was only one chair in the interrogation room we were brought to. A bit of an oversight that, though a police officer soon brought in a second chair for me sit on next to Ruby. I leaned back with a sigh, closing my eyes and leaning my head back while Ruby sat ram rod straight. A moment later, I opened my eyes and brought my head back forward and said "You have questions yes?"

"I do, but those can come after I deal with her." Glynda said, narrowing her eyes at Ruby who gulped at the sight. As Glynda began a slow walk around the table to start her little bit of intimidation/psychological evaluation of the Scarlet Speedster, I closed my eyes again and only listened with half an ear. I didn't open them even as Ozpin came in and spoke with her, then invited her to Beacon.

It was only as Ozpin said "And then there is you young man." that I opened my eyes and straightened up in my seat. Ozpin took a sip from his cup of coffee and continued "I must admit that you interest me greatly Matthew Bandstra. You are not in any databases whatsoever, you carry no weapon, Dustcaster or otherwise, and yet you seem capable of manipulating at least three elements _and_ creating barriers, you do not appear as old as the picture in the id you gave us though facial recognition shows that you are a 100% match to it once your picture goes through an aging program, and said id is for a place that doesn't exist on Remnant. So tell me Mr. Bandstra, how did you wind up on Remnant at least a decade younger than you should be?"

"Say what?!" Ruby asked startled, glancing between me and Ozpin in confusion. Glynda I noticed had raised eyebrows but was otherwise remaining professional.

Smirking, I leaned forward and said "I figured that if anyone would guess it that it would be you Ol' Ozzy. I'm assuming you've heard of the Multi-Verse Theory?" At Ozpin's nod, I shrugged and said "Yeah, turns out it's not really a Theory anymore. I was just relaxing in front of my computer working on some fanfiction of mine when a Randomly Omnipotent Being, R.O.B. for short, showed up and said he was going to toss me into Remnant. Keep in mind, Earth, the planet I'm from, has no Aura or Grimm, and while being a physical laborer meant I had plenty of muscle in my arms and legs, I wasn't exactly the most fit guy out there. Thankfully, the R.O.B., or Taifun as I know him, doesn't have a B for Bastard in front of his title so he wasn't going to send me as I am where I would just become a Grimm chew toy. You see, Taifun likes to think of himself as a pretty fair guy, dealing in Equivalent Exchange to give someone a way to survive in the new world he tosses them into. This time, he took away a little over a decade of my age and took those years and the body mass I lost and converted them into Aura, which in turn powers these."

I held up my right hand and the Spell Sigil on my palm lit up in Hunter's Green light as I continued "Spell Sigils, they've got nine element spell classes along with a utility class that is primarily healing. All ten classes have six levels of strength, three spells per level, though I've only got access to the first-tier spells right now. I've got four of them on me, one on each end of my limbs."

"Cooool." Ruby breathed next to me and a glance showed her eyes had stars in them as she stared at my hand.

I chuckled at the sight but my gaze was brought back forward as Ozpin took a sip of his coffee and asked "And how are you aware of Aura and Grimm if your planet doesn't have these things?"

I shrugged and said "There was a television show called RWBY, spelled R-W-B-Y that focused mostly on _her_ team."

I pointed at Ruby and her eyes grew wide as she also pointed at herself and asked _"Me?! I'm going to be a _teamleader_?!"_

"If things go the same way as the show? Yes." I said with a grin before I turned back towards Ozpin and continued "I've only seen the first eight episodes of the source material which had covered tonight up to team assignments, but thanks to other sources I do know about a good bit of other stuff, though I unfortunately don't have any dates for you."

"Pity, however, I will gladly take any information you have for me." Ozpin said with another sip of his coffee. Seriously, how much of that stuff could that mug hold?

Shaking my head from that distracting thought, I took a deep breath and looked upwards as I said "Let's see, I know that Ruby has a pair of Semblances, her 'normal' Semblance which is speed boosted and her 'dojutsu' or eye ability that as the name suggests rests in her Silver Eyes. I don't know the specifics of it, just that in the show it one shot a giant dragon Grimm." Ruby gasped out a surprised "Whoa" and I hummed before I continued "I know that her team in the show was her partner Weiss Schnee, her sister Yang Xiao Long, and Yang's partner Blake Belladonna. I know the other three girls' Semblances. I know that while Blake is a former member of the White Fang, she joined when her parents created it and it was still a peaceful organization, and that she got out when she could no longer stand how it was turned into a terrorist organization. I know that Team JNPR will become a valuable partner to Team RWBY, and that it is composed of Jaune Arc, his partner Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, and her partner Ren Lie. I know what their Semblances can do and that while Jaune gets in on false transcripts, he plays a key role in what comes up in the future, especially since his Aura Boosting Semblance saves Weiss Schnee's life. I also know that he doesn't get his Aura unlocked until Initiation, when Pyrrha does it. I know that at some point either very recently or very soon, the Fall Maiden Amber is going to be attacked and half her powers will be stolen by Cinder Fall, who is the woman we fought tonight. In the show, the other half of Amber's Maiden powers was meant to go to Pyrrha Nikos, only Cinder killed Amber before the transfer could be made giving her that half as well. I know that Cinder Fall is working for Salem and has the White Fang working in turn for herself. I know that she will orchestrate a Breach of Vale through a train rigged with explosives and later she will do something similar during the Vytal Festival. Part of the Vytal Festival attack will be taking over Atlas' mechs, which was possible due to their operating systems being so rudimentary even _**I**_ could do it with my _one_ high school level class of computer coding. Let's see, I know Ruby's Aunt Raven is leader of a bandit tribe, though I didn't actually see any of that part of the show. I know what you are Ozzy Osbourne, and that when your current body dies you'll share headspace with a farm boy named Oscar Pine."

I suddenly let out a cough and rubbed at my throat. Before Ozpin or Glynda could offer me a drink though I cupped my hands and used Water Hole to convert the air molecules into water molecules. Bringing my hands to my lips and drinking said water, I ignored Ruby's amazed gaze and said "I know that Cinder Fall has two people under her direct employ: Mercury Black, who had his Semblance stolen by his father, however _that_ works, and uses his two prosthetic legs to fight, and Emerald Sustrai, who has a mental Semblance that she once used to make Yang think that Mercury attacked her after their match in the Vytal Festival was finished making her shoot him in the leg. Not to mention how she made Pyrrha kill Atlas' android, Penny, who Ruby had befriended."

"She did what?!" Ruby hissed in anger with fists clinched, and I wasn't sure if it was what happened to Yang or her future friend that made her angrier.

"Miss Rose, please calm yourself, if that does happen to your sister here, I shall handle it, and I shall do everything to ensure this Penny's survival as well." Ozpin said and Ruby grumbled something before relaxing. Nodding, Ozpin looked at me and said "Anything else Mr. Bandstra?"

I nodded and said "Yeah, like we saw tonight, she's also got Roman Torchwick working with her. No clue about _his_ Semblance, but he's got a partner named Neopolitan, or Neo for short, who's got an illusion based Semblance, which shatters if it's broken. She uses an umbrella and a cane sword hidden inside said umbrella to fight. Girl's default form is a tiny woman at 4'10", Pink, White, and Brown hair, Heterochromatic eyes, whitetail jacket, brown pants, black gloves, and black and white boots with very high heels. I'm not sure if she's partially mute or just voluntarily, but every video I've looked up before that had her in it had her silent. Finally, I know the members of Salem's 'inner circle', though except for Cinder and one other, I just know their names." Ozpin showed the first bit of interest at that, leaning forward the slightest bit. At his gesture, I said "Tyrian Callows is a scorpion Faunus, and I'm pretty sure he's ten feet past the insanity cliff, believing Salem to be his goddess. Though given the fact that literal witch is thousands of years old, I can't blame him for that. The other two members that I know are Arthur Watts and Hazel Rainart. I _think_ I recall something about Haven Academy's headmaster, Leonardo Lionheart, being an informant of hers, but I can't verify that."

Glynda and Ozpin both had frowns as Glynda said "Sir, if Leo's turned…"

"I know." Ozpin said quietly. He closed his eyes for a long moment and Ruby said "Sir? You don't actually think a Headmaster would be a traitor do you?"

"I wish that I could say that I don't Miss Rose. Unfortunately, we must consider the possibility. Because if we don't, and it turns out that he actually is, then terrible things may happen that we could have prevented." Ozpin took yet another sip of his coffee before he opened his eyes with a sigh and turned their gaze on me as he continued "I thank you for all of this potential information Mr. Bandstra. Be assured that I will look into all of it appropriately. On another matter, could I interest you in joining Beacon alongside Miss Rose?"

I cocked my head before I shook my head and said "I'll be honest with you, a part of me is tempted. Tempted to take the easy route offered to me in this literal new world, but there are multiple problems. For starters, I didn't do too well during my school years, and that was in a world that I actually _knew_. If I went to your school my grades would drop like a World War II dive bomber going after an aircraft carrier. And besides, _high school_." I gave a shudder of my body and said "No thanks. Besides, while I'm sure I could take on a grimm or two at a time, until I get to S Class with my Spell Sigils, I'd just drag down whatever team I was on." Standing up, I walked around the table and towards the door as I continued "I think I'll see if the hospital will take me on. I'm sure they'll appreciate me being able to Regenerate whole limbs once I get my Staff spells to S class."

I was one step away from walking out the doorway when Ozpin calmly stated "Jaune Arc is dead."

I came to a complete stop and looked over my shoulder as I asked "What?" The flatness in my tone would have made a digital level weep in joy.

"I learned about it from his parents who are good friends of mine. He died two days ago in a hit and run." Ozpin said. A moment later, Ruby's scroll and my phone both let out tones, mine my Text Message alert, which I suspected was also what Ruby's scroll just gave. Her gasp at whatever she saw on it had me glance at her out of the corner of my eye before I slipped my phone out of my pocket ad looked down at it. Sure enough, there was a text message from an unknown number. Ozpin had somehow scanned my phone's number and sent it to me. Confirmation that iPhones and Scrolls were compatible set aside, I opened the text message and frowned at the image displayed on my phone.

It wasn't pretty. Both legs were clearly broken, as was the right arm, marks on the skin showing that the arm had been caught under a set of tires. Blood pooled from where the kid had hit the side of his head on the street and his chest cavity was collapsed, more marks that lined up with the ones on his arm showing that the guy had gotten the full weight of the vehicle on his chest. Even if paramedics had been on the side of the road when this happened he wouldn't have survived.

'That's Jaune alright, and there's no way Ozpin could have had this fabricated within the last ten minutes.' I thought to myself with a frown. A frown which only grew as another thought hit me. 'Sonnuvabitch! Taifun sent me here to _replace_ him, didn't he?! Not have to go to Beacon my ass.' Doing my best to keep my thoughts hidden, I turned fully around and looked at Ozpin and said "My condolences Headmaster, it looks like you lost a student before he ever set foot in your school."

"So it seems." Ozpin said with a solemn nod of his head before he looked back up at me and said "And in light of this and the information you provided about the team young Mr. Arc would have led, I find it particularly interesting that you would appear in a location that led to us meeting on the same night I met with Miss Rose. Quite a coincidence, wouldn't you say?"

"Gibbs Rule #39- There is no such thing as coincidence." I said absently. I ignored the raised eyebrow look Ozpin gave at that and sighed. Running a hand through my hair, I said "You want me to lead JNPR in place of Jaune."

"That would be the optimal scenario, yes. Though I will give said position to Miss Nikos if I think she will serve the role better." Ozpin said with an incline of his head. He then took another sip of his coffee as he studied me.

I was silent for several minutes, keeping my gaze on Ozpin's as I thought. Finally, I glanced at Ruby and considered her for a moment before I sighed and said "I still believe that it's a bad idea for me to do this, but Ruby's going to need help. And the best way I can be there to offer it when she needs said help is to be where she is."

"Uh, thanks?" Ruby stated a little tepidly.

I nodded at her and turned back to Ozpin and said "Alright sir, I'll come."

"Excellent. However, your name is a bit unusual for these parts. Could I convince you to change it?" Ozpin stated, cocking his head at the end.

I hummed before a thought had me looking back down at the image on my phone. Closing my eyes, I nodded to myself before I opened them again and said "Since I'll be replacing Jaune as a student, call me Tac Arc."

Time Skip: March 3, En Route To Beacon

The day between the attempted robbery and when I had to join Ruby on the air ship to head to Beacon was fairly hectic. Ol' Ozzy Osbourn had given me a pay card with a thousand lien loaded on it, calling it a consulting fee. I decided _not_ to ask why he had that ready before he even spoke to me and instead nodded my thanks before I followed Goodwitch out of the police station. The stern woman escorted me to a nearby hotel and said that she would meet me in the hotel lounge at seven sharp to drop off some basic reading material that would make my stay on Remnant much smoother.

Said reading material turned out to be a book on basic Vale Laws. (VERY similar to the laws I knew of in the United States though of course there were also laws pertaining to Hunters and other Aura related things.) There was also a book that covered Vale history in broad strokes, a third on Remnant history in general, and finally a map of the city with restaurants, various stores, and even the hospital were marked on it. Goodwitch also informed me of when and where I had to be the next day to board the airship taking the students of the new year to Beacon.

After I had a quick breakfast, provided by the hotel as part of my boarding fee, I spent the day out on the town. First thing I did was hit Vale's version of a Wal-Mart Supercenter, grabbing a bookbag and a duffle bag, basic necessities like shampoo/conditioner, body soap, toothbrush/toothpaste/floss, deodorant (Hunter grade of course), multiple changes of clothes including underwear and socks (Mostly casual wear from that store), and to cap it off, a box of the equivalent of this world's pop tarts, Chocolate frosted Peanut Butter of course, and three bags of Root Beer Barrel hard candies to last me for the first few weeks. (I have a sweet tooth, so sue me.)

With the basics acquired, I went to a more specialized store that catered to Hunters and grabbed two sets of durable clothing to wear out in the field. (I'd buy more as I got more money, those outfits were _expensive_.) I allowed myself a little bit of browsing of the next door weapon shop, and wound up buying a twenty two inch short sword as a backup in case I ran out of Aura to power my spells. Not the best weapon to fight off the Grimm true, but it was a sturdy blade and I couldn't afford anything else at the time given the purchase I had made just before that one.

A quick lunch at a fast food joint later, and I returned to the hotel to read the books I was given. It was rather dry reading but I managed to at least finish the Vale lawbook and most of the Vale history book by the time I decided to call it a night.

Which lead me up to now. The air ship had left its dock twenty minutes ago and I was making my way through it to find Ruby. I had already spotted the three members of my possible future team as well as Weiss and Blake on the two top levels. I think I just about gave the latter a heart attack when I winked at her then mimed zipping my lips.

That had me chuckling as I climbed the stairs down to the bottom deck (we had boarded from the top section in the Vale airport for some reason) and immediately locked onto my target. Spotting her and Yang standing together looking through the windows at Beacon, I stepped up on Ruby's side that her sister wasn't occupying and said "That's quite a sight, isn't it?"

"Matt! Er, I mean, Tac!" Ruby said, her eyes lighting up at first before she turned sheepish as she realized her mistake.

"Ruby." I said with a slight nod of my head.

"Oh, and who might this be?" Yang asked, nudging Ruby in the ribs and grinning as she teased "Has my sister found a boyfriend already?"

"Yaaaang, stop it. He's just the guy who helped me the other night." Ruby said, pouting at her bigger sister.

"Uh-huh, and the two names thing?" Yang asked, eyebrow raised.

"I prefer my nickname to my original one." I said with a shrug.

A shrug Yang returned before she leaned in with a serious look on her face and said "So 'Tac', tell me honestly, what are your intentions towards my little sister?"

"Yaaaaang, stop it!" Ruby whined.

I though snorted and said "Yang, I've spent maybe thirty minutes total around her, most of that in an interrogation room, we're no where near dating, heck at this point, we're not even proper friends yet."

"We're not? But I thought-" Ruby said, trailing off at the end with a slightly hurt look.

"Ruby, we had one short fight and a debrief together, that makes us acquaintances, not friends. Give it a few more interactions between us to see if we're actually compatible with each other first eh?" I said, giving the little reaper a kind smile.

"Okay." Ruby said, giving me a small smile as well. Yang meanwhile hummed but seemed content to leave us be, turning back to look out the window, an action that Ruby and I followed. Beacon's landing field was coming into sight. Soon enough our time at Beacon Academy would begin and I would be boarding with a bunch of high schoolers. Joy.

END

Author's Notes: Update Schedule and Poll on my Profile. Please look at the poll if you haven't already, at the time of posting this, it's only got eleven votes so far, and that's nowhere near as large a sample size as the thing being voted on deserves.

Decided that since I was already halfway through episode one with the part I submitted for Potential Stories that I might as well finish it.


	2. Chapter 2

2\. I Hate Scorpions

Quick AN: I've decided to do a bunch of episodes together in the interest of getting to the combat side of things quicker. Also, the list of War Mage spells that have been 'unlocked' so far in Waking Up In A Field are now at the bottom of my profile so have a gander if you don't read Fire Emblem stories.

Story Start: Beacon Landing Platform

Walking behind Ruby and Yang when we got off the transport was an interesting experience if nothing else. Ruby _actually_ turned into a floating chibi as she geeked out over the weapons that some of the upper classmen had as they moved around the academy grounds. As Yang tried to get her sister to make more friends than just me and her, I saw Weiss coming up with her cart full of luggage. Catching her eye, I pointed at the sisters then spun my finger in the classic 'go around please' gesture. Weiss raised an imperious eyebrow at me but did in fact change course slightly.

I let out a sigh at having removed the drama that would have come about from Ruby falling on the socialite's luggage only to catch said Reaper as Yang darted away with her suddenly appearing friends fast enough to make Ruby spinn around with swirly eyes. Holding her shoulders as she recovered, I glanced down the walkway as Yang rapidly retreated and said "Sheesh, I know she's playing the 'force them to grow via sink or swim' method but that was just plain rude."

Recovering, Ruby made a small whining sound before she turned her head to look up at me and gave me a puppy dog look she probably learned from Zwei as she asked "You're not going to abandon me are you Tac?"

I rolled my eyes and said "No, but Yang DID have a point you know." Pushing her back to standing on her feet properly, I continued "We're going to be working in teams of four from now on. Starting tomorrow, you're going to have to get used to interacting with others than just me and Yang."

"That is a problem for tomorrow, and I'll happily let tomorrow me deal with it." Ruby said with a pout and crossed arms. She then cocked her head at me and asked "Besides, you already told me who I'm going to be on a team with, why do I need to try and make friends with anyone else?"

"I said who a _version_ of you was on a team with Ruby, there's no guarantee that the teams will remain the same as in the show. It is quite possible that you will wind up on a team with three boys instead of three other girls, one with an equal mix of genders, one where there are no faunus or just you as a full blooded human, etcetera. After all, things are already different with me replacing Jaune since I already know how I'm going to handle the first part of the initiation while he was literally flailing around like a guy who went skydiving without a parachute." I said, before I lightly nudged her a step forward and continued "Now come on, we've got half an hour before we need to be in the auditorium, let's see if we can't track down a directory we can study for a bit."

"Fine." Ruby said with a defeated sigh as she followed me to the closest building.

Time Skip: Twenty Five Minutes Later

The minute she saw it on the campus map we found Ruby had insisted we get at least a peak at the Forge on campus grounds. Against my better judgement I had followed here there. I wound up dragging her away by the wrist when it got closer to time for orientation. Now we were entering the auditorium, and Yang was there waving her hand and calling for Ruby to join her. Ruby glanced uncertainly up at me and said "Um, thanks for sticking with me Tac, but Yang's calling for me and there's only one spot by her so..."

Rolling my eyes, I lightly pushed her forwards and said "Get going Ruby, I'll be fine."

"Sorry." Ruby said quietly even as she ran over to join her sister. As the two began chatting, I took a glance around and tsked lightly to myself. First day of school and I could already see the cliques forming up, friends from previous combat schools sticking together and not giving room for others to join their group, the loners leaning against the walls with at least five feet between each other and even that one guy with earbuds hooked to his scroll ignoring everybody else while lightly banging his head to whatever he was listening to. Then I glanced to my seven o'clock position and thought 'Well, that could work.'

Turning, I threaded my way through the groups where a particular red head was standing by herself, a five foot bubble of space around her even as everyone nearby was sending particular looks her way. Giving her a nod, I asked "Ma'am, mind if I join you?"

Pyrrha Nikos, she couldn't be anyone else with that coloration and how everyone was acting around her, blinked once before she gave me a fake if polite smile and said "I don't mind."

Nodding, I took a spot a couple feet to her right before turning slightly holding out my hand and said "The name's Tac Arc by the way, call sign War Mage."

Politely accepting the hand for a quick shake, she said "Pyrrha Nikos, don't have a call sign I'm afraid." She then cocked her head and asked "And I'm sorry but 'War Mage' as a call sign? Do you play a lot of fantasy rpgs?"

I shrugged and said "I've dabbled in a few. Really, I just want to have a cool sounding call sign to tell others so that way they don't give me something ridiculous like Soap or Roach."

"Oh, that makes sense I guess." Pyrrha said slightly unsure, biting her lip for a moment before she asked "Do you think we'll actually be using call signs while we're here?"

I shrugged again and said "I think that depends on what the leader of the team you're assigned wants to do, though I'm definitely going to suggest it to my leader if I don't get the role."

Pyrrha nodded slowly and said "I suppose I should start thinking of one then."

"Could always go with Spartan for simplicity's sake, you certainly look the part." I said with a smirk.

Pyrrha let out a hum at that but before our conversation could either continue or simply end on that note, Ozpin tapped the microphone set up on the dais at the front of the auditorium and said "I'll...keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction."

More than a few people whispered to themselves at that part, not that I could blame them, it was almost like having _Professor_ Snape calling kids dunderheads during their first Potions class.

I shook that thought off as Ozpin continued "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up you to take the first step."

Ozpin stepped away from the microphone at that point and Goodwitch took his place as she said "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

Humming as everyone around us began to file out, I glanced at Pyrrha and said "Well, the man did say that he would keep it brief, didn't he?"

"Indeed." Pyrrha said with a short nod.

Shrugging, I turned to follow the others out of the hall and said "Well, I don't know about you, but I want to explore some more, see ya around Spartan."

"Bye." Pyrrha said. Softer, I heard her say to herself "I guess he didn't recognize me and was trying to get close after all and just wanted somewhere to stand."

I smirked and thought 'Oh you have NO idea Miss Nikos.' Chuckling to myself, I left the auditorium and went to see what the library looked like.

Time Skip: Thirty Minutes Later

I was near the back of the library, studying the large map of Remnant spread across the wall. Cocking my head, I asked "You just going to stand there glaring at me or are you going to actually come over here so that we can talk Blake?"

Silence for several moments. Then, right behind me I heard "Who are you? And how do you know me?"

Turning around to see the Faunus barely a foot away with narrowed eyes, I said "This may come as a surprise to you Blake but there IS information about you and your family out there, you just need to know where to search." Holding up my phone to show her an _old_ picture of her with her family, I continued "Your father is the leader of your settlement, it doesn't matter how well you cover your tracks, you can't cover that one." Putting my phone up, I continued "I'm not going to bring any attention to what you are but don't expect that bow to hide it from anyone else for long, especially not with those eyes of yours."

Blake narrowed said eyes at me but after a moment, she let out a sigh, closing her eyes for a moment before she opened them again and said "If I find out that you did say anything to anyone else-"

"You'll turn me into a scratching post." I interrupted with a wave of my hand. Blake huffed again before she turned around and powerwalked away. I let out a slight hum before I turned back around and continued studying the map, saying lowly to myself "Well, that went better than I thought."

Thank goodness I COULD find that picture, otherwise that bit of impulsiveness on the transport could have had some rather unpleasant consequences. Still, once the teams were formed I'd have to keep an eye on how that girl interacted with the others to prevent her from turning into a paranoid Mad Eye Moody and start thinking everyone was out to get her. Well, unless by some cruel twist of fate she wound up on a team with Cardin. If that happened and the asshole started something then he'd get what he deserved.

Time Skip: That Night, The Ballroom

The only one still in his day clothes rather than pajamas, I waded through all of the sleeping bags on the floor before I stopped by where Ruby was laying on hers and writing in a book and said "Mind if I join you?"

"Tac, no, by all means!" Ruby said with a grin. Putting down my own sleeping bag on the side that wasn't taken up by her sister's, I sat down indian style and asked "So did you see anywhere else after old Ozzy's speech or did you just go straight back to the forge?"

"Hey, I saw more areas!" Ruby said indignantly before she lightly blushed and said "I checked out the cafeteria before I went back."

I let out a snort at that before we glanced over at Yang as she dropped down onto her sleeping bag and said "It's like a big slumber party!"

"I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys, though." Ruby said, going back to her letter.

"I know I do!" Yang said, almost purring like her potential future partner, eyes roaming over all of the boys in the ball room who had their shirts off showing the results of several years of combat training. Seriously, I wasn't ashamed of the shape my body was in but I had some serious catching up to do in the muscle category. Some of those guys looked like they could bend rebar between their pointer fingers.

I shook that thought from my mind when Yang asked "By the way, what's that you're working on?"

"A letter to the gang back at Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going." Ruby said.

"Aw, that's so _cuuuute_!" Yang said with a grin only to get knocked back when Ruby threw a pillow at her face.

Giving her sister an angry look, Ruby said "Shut up! I didn't get to take my friends with me to school! It's weird not knowing anyone here!" Seeing Yang's eyes flick to me, Ruby huffed and said "Tac doesn't count! Our bond was forged in combat, it's totally different!"

"Boy, don't I feel special." I said with a chuckle before I laid on my back before rolling up to my feet and said "I'm going to go hit the shower before turning in. I just _know_ that all of the hot water's going to be gone if I wait for the morning."

"I think a huntsman school can afford big enough water heaters to avoid that kind of thing Tac." Yang said with a raised eyebrow.

I smirked and said "Maybe, but back home my water heater was set to the hottest setting and I _still_ had the shower knob turned the all the way to the left, so I think I'll play it safe."

"Yikes." Yang muttered and Ruby looked at the skin on my arms incredulously as she asked "How are you NOT permanently lobster red?!"

Chuckling, I said "Lots of years to get used to it." Leaving everything but my pajamas on my sleeping bag I made my way over to the showers that by now were empty.

Turning on one of the showers, I stripped then hopped into the perfectly reasonable ninety five degree water with a sigh. After a moment, I formed a Wind Blade in my right hand and held my left forearm near it. Taking a deep breath, I lightly tapped my arm by the elbow with the blade and hissed at the long but shallow cut it made, quickly making nine more cuts down to my wrist. Immediately after, I pressed my right palm against the cuts while muttering Heal each time. As I continued leveling up my Staff class spells the only way I could do so reasonably quickly, the water swirling in the drain began taking on a slightly red tint.

Thirty minutes later, I walked back to my sleeping bag and sat down with a sigh, left arm looking completely normal. Yang raised an eyebrow and said "You were in there for a while, you sure you're actually a guy?"

I chuckled and said "Sorry, I was just enjoying the temperatures a _really big_ water heater can provide."

"Un huh. Well I hope I don't get you as a team member then, me and the other two would never have any time in the bathroom." Yang said with a teasing smirk.

I shrugged with a smirk of my own and said "That sounds like a you problem, not a me problem." Yang tossed a pillow at me in response. A pillow that I caught and threw back at her before slipping into my sleeping bag and said "Night girls."

"Night Tac." The sisters said, also beginning to settle down. Tomorrow was a big day after all, we would all need our sleep.

Scene Change: The Next Morning, Locker Room

I pointedly ignored Nora's constant blabbering at Ren the moment said boy woke up. I considered it good practice for if TNPR replaced JNPR. I then shuddered and thought 'God, I hope Ozpin doesn't give us Turnip for a team name. ANNND I just jinxed us didn't I?' Face palming, I dragged my hand down my face with a wordless grumble before I gave my head a single but hard shake before I reached into the locker and pulled out my backup short sword, securing the sheath it came with to my back with the provided strap in a way so that it hung diagonally, the sword handle over my right shoulder and the tip pointing to the left. A quick draw then sheath to make sure that I could actually draw it like that and I nodded in satisfaction. If the blade was any longer I wouldn't have been able to but twenty two inches was juuuuust short enough it seemed. Sheathing the blade, I began walking towards the exit.

I ignored the sisterly drama going on between Ruby and Yang but paused at where Weiss was trying to get Pyrrha to be on her team, to the Mistral Champion's discomfort. Clapping a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder, I nudged my head to the exit and said "Come on Spartan, we need to get going to the Beacon Cliff for the start of the test."

Almost as if we planned it together, right on the tail end of my statement, Goodwitch came on the PA system and said "Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

"See?" I said with a grin.

"Right, guess we should get going then." Pyrrha said. Giving Weiss, a small bow of the head, she said "It was nice talking with you Weiss." The next moment, she gripped my wrist and all but pulled me out the door. As I easily matched her power walking pace, she sighed and let go of my wrist and said "Thanks for the save War Mage."

I shrugged and said "No problem." I then turned serious and said "Just brace yourself for the possibility of you actually being on her team at the end of the day."

Pyrrha let out a small sigh and said "If that is where the chips fall, then so be it." She then visibly made herself brighten up and continued "But then there's also the chance that I could have you on the team as well."

"Already picking favorites huh? I must have done something right in yesterday's conversation, brief as it was." I said with an easy grin.

Pyrrha blushed and idly rubbed her right hand over her left bicep and said "Well, you did treat me like a normal person rather than some superstar."

"Not really that hard a thing to do. Winning a tournament four times in a row simply means I know that you'll have my back if need be." I said, smirking at the surprised look Pyrrha had before I winked at her. Before she could offer a response I Negated my weight then shot out of the building exit, dashing towards the Cliff where Ozpin and Goodwitch were waiting.

Coming to a stop on the tile directly next to them, I gave them a nod and said "Morning Professors."

"Good morning Mr. Bandstra, making inroads with your preferred partner already I see." Ozpin said, taking a sip out of his coffee cup.

I shrugged and said "Pyrrha needs someone her age to treat her normal when no one else does. If that means she decides to seek me out as a partner in order to keep that person close then that's just a happy consequence."

"Indeed." Ozpin said with a slight smirk before he turned serious and continued "On another note, I do hope you don't have a habit of cutting yourself in the shower."

I blinked in surprise that he knew about that. Goodwitch had a rather severe frown on her face as she said "Mr. Arc, I feel compelled to mention that Beacon has a psychiatrist on call for its students. If you are having trouble acclimating to your new environment-"

"It is _nothing_ like that." I said, cutting her off with a slash of my hand before I continued "The only way to reach the higher spell classes my Spell Sigils can use is by using the primary spell of a class one hundred times. _Unfortunately_, the primary spells of the Staff element are healing spells, and since Aura means the others aren't likely going to be getting a collection of scrapes and bruises..."

"You felt like you had to take drastic measures, I see." Ozpin said with a sigh before he shook his head and said "I wish you would have told me this before Mr. Bandstra, I could have gotten you access to Vale's main hospital where you would have had plenty of people with injuries to work with."

"Yeah, that probably would have been a better idea." I admitted, rubbing the back of my head with my left hand. Dropping it after a moment, I said "Speaking of other people with injuries, the S Class healing spell is Regenerate. I figure you probably know some Hunters and Huntresses who would probably be interested in that."

The pair of professors raised an eyebrow each and Ozpin said "Indeed, I know a few people who would most likely prefer to have natural limbs rather than prosthetics. However, now is not the time for such discussion, your fellow students approach." He pointed his coffee cup behind me, then took a sip.

Sure enough, a glance behind me showed all of the other students coming closer, taking their cues from me and assembling in a line on the tiles. Ruby zipped over to stand on the tile next to mine and I saw Pyrrha actually snap her fingers, though she kept her hand by her waist when she did so. Yang snagged the next tile so Pyrrha quickly claimed the third tile from me.

Once everyone was in place, Ozpin said "For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

Goodwitch picked up the explanation as she said "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams'. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates...**today**."

"What? Ohhh..." Ruby moaned in distress.

Ozpin took a sip of his coffee before he continued "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Ruby groaned again even as Ozpin continued "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

I could _hear_ Ruby's inner world shattering as her eyes widened and she asked "**Whaaaaaaat?!**"

A little further down the line, I heard Nora say to Ren "See? I _told_ you!"

Ozpin meanwhile wasn't done speaking as he said "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path...or you **will** die. You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

"Just one sir, what counts as 'landing'? Do we have to be on solid ground or do the trees count?" I asked.

"The moment your momentum from your launch is stopped is when the met eyes rule comes into effect." Ozpin said, taking another sip of coffee.

"Got it." I said with a nod.

"Good, then if there are no other questions, take your positions." Ozpin said and everyone prepared for the launch, the tiles beginning to springboard them off one after another from the other end of the line. I noted Yang winking at Ruby as she put a pair of aviator sunglasses on before she got launched, Ruby grinning to herself in excitement just before she too was sent flying. I gave Ozpin and Goodwitch a nod of farewell then put a Barrier in front of my eyes like a wraparound pair of safety glasses an instant before I was launched into the air with an excited "**YEEEEEEEHAAAAAAW**!"

I enjoyed the rush of air around me and the trees flying past underneath for a solid minute (Those spring boards had some serious power!) before I heard Crescent Rose begin rapidly barking out a series of shots to slow her owner down. A glance around showed the others beginning their own landing strategies as well. Locking onto Pyrrha's long red hair, I adjusted my course with Wind Jets from my palms so that I would only land about a hundred yards from her landing position rather than Jaune's half a mile plus. Fifty feet from the tree tops I flipped forward so that I was falling feet first and added Wind Jets from my two feet to the ones on my hands. Immediately after, I Negated my weight to ten pounds and slowed WAAAAY down, easily touching down light enough on a tree branch that its end barely swayed.

Giving a happy sigh as I idly pulled the Barrier from my eyes like it was an actual piece of eye ware, I said "I swear, that was better than any roller coaster I've ever been on." Dismissing the Barrier, I turned towards where Pyrrha had landed, seeing her looking in my direction, I gave her a long arm wave that she eagerly returned before I dropped down below tree level. Landing in a Superhero Landing because I could actually do so easily without injury with me still at ten pounds, I stood up and returned my weight to normal while idly brushing myself off as I said "I can see why superheroes do that, it feels badass."

"Tac!" Pyrrha called, rushing over with a happy smile and said "I guess we're Partners now huh?"

"Looks like it, guess Ozpin figured we would make a good power couple." I said with a smirk, as if I _hadn't_ cheated in making sure I landed near her.

"_Power couple?_" Pyrrha asked with a slight blush.

My smirk grew as I held up my right hand palm facing towards her as I said "Spartans were the BEST when it came to close quarters combat in their day and age and I've enough fire power in my hands to knock down a city block." The Spell Sigil on my right palm lit up with a green light before I shifted to face a tree trunk to my right. A quick call of "Gravity!" had the tree abruptly falling with a groan before it slammed into the ground with a crash.

Turning back to Pyrrha with a grin showed her looking at the tree with appreciation and said "A Semblance dealing with gravity, nice."

"Oh that's not all I can do, I've also got Wind, Water, Fire, Earth, Lightning, Space, Light, Dark, and Staff spells."

"Spells?" Pyrrha asked in confusion. Not that I could blame her, to most people of Remnant, Magic was completely different than Aura and Semblances, relegated to fairy tales.

I nodded and said "Yep." Pulling out my phone, I brought up the Compass app on it. A moment later, I pointed in the direction we needed to go and said "North is that way, let's walk and talk."

"Alright." Pyrrha said and as we started walking asked "So did you just put Dust infused Tattoos on your hands so that you can use these 'Spells'? And what does 'Staff' mean?"

Time Skip: Thirty Minutes Later

Pyrrha and I both cocked our heads when we heard gunfire. Closing my eyes as I listened, I said "That's too rapid to be a shot gun so it's not Yang, and it's too low to be Ruby's Crescent Rose firing at semi auto. _Could_ be Ren's I suppose..."

"The one with the SMG trench knife weapons?" Pyrrha asked, having seen Ren arm himself before he was launched.

"That's him, though I'm pretty sure I'm hearing multiple calibers so unless he's joined up with someone else then it's probably not him given how his friend Nora uses a grenade launcher war hammer combo." I said with a thoughtful hum.

Pyrrha hummed as well before she shrugged and said "Well, with how far away the gun fire is, by the time we reached the fight it would be long over, shall we continue?"

"Yeah, we're not going to reach the ruins just standing here after all." I said with a nod and the pair of us began making our way north again.

Ten minutes later, we came up to a cave with drawings on the side. Pyrrha didn't see said drawings having been on my left and asked "Think this i-mmph?!"

Her eyes widened as my hand shot up and covered her mouth, the pointer finger of my other hand over my own lips before I made the hand sign for a scorpion, pointer finger held over thumb, ring finger over pinkie in order to imitate pincers and middle finger reared back like a stinger. I then pointed at the drawing that showed a bunch of people surrounding a giant scorpion. Pyrrha's eyes widened just a little further before she nodded and I pointed back to the trees we had just left and dropped my hand.

Once we were behind the dubious cover of the first couple of trees and thus at least hidden from sight of the cave entrance, I said quietly "Call me crazy, but I think there's a Deathstalker in there."

"Sure seems like it from what that drawing shows." Pyrrha bit her lip for a moment and continued "The question is, what should we do about it? While we are Hunter and Huntress in training and thus expected to eliminate Grimm when we come across them, Deathstalkers can get quite large and there are only the two of us."

Having had a few days to plan for if I followed canon's path when it came to this particular Grimm, I smirked and said "I'm pretty sure that if it's stuck in ten feet of Quicksand with us thirty feet off the ground it won't be nearly as much of a threat. After that, it's just wale on it until it does the world a favor and dies."

"Can you _make_ a quicksand pit that big? Like I said, these creatures are rather big." Pyrrha asked, biting her lip again in slight worry.

I nodded and said "Give me a couple of minutes of setup and we should be good." With that, I crouched and reached around the tree trunk, placing my hand on the ground and took a deep breath. So far all I had used during my time here were healing spells to heal small cuts, four barriers, and three E Class Primary spells, this would be the first time using an actual Area of Effect spell, hopefully it didn't take TOO much Aura to make otherwise I would have to rethink the next part of my plan a bit.

Eyes furrowed, I quietly intoned "Quicksand." A moment later, Pyrrha and I watched as the grass leading up to the cave began sagging downwards in a ripple like manner away from my hand as the ground underneath was turned less...packed was probably the best description I could use. There was still material underneath the top of the ground but it was clear by the slight depression that was forming that it would NOT be a good idea to walk onto that patch of terra not so firma. A minute later, I let out a sigh and said "There, it's ten feet deep and SHOULD be big enough." I glanced at my phone which Taifun had thoughtfully put an Aura scanner app on and said "And it thankfully only took five percent of my Aura."

"Wow, you must have a lot of it then." Pyrrha said with slightly raised eyebrows.

'Just over a decade's worth.' I thought to myself before I said "Alright, I'm going to drop your weight, stay at tree top level alright?"

"Alright." Pyrrha said with a nod and I quickly used a Negate on her to drop her weight to five pounds. The girl quickly scrabbled up the tree she was hiding behind like a giant squirrel. I Negated myself all the way down to a single pound before I set up a Spotlight pointing into the cave entrance. A moment later, there was a rumbling sound and I quickly leapt up into the air, landing on a quickly formed Barrier ten feet over the treetops.

I reached my spot just in time. Not a moment later, the Deathstalker came bursting out, the stone five feet around the opening hurled into the forest making me very glad that we were so high up. That said, I couldn't help the cackle I made when the Deathstalker immediately sank into the ground with a startled screech.

As the Grimm struggled to get its legs free, I said "Hello large stationary target, Water X 100!"

Water shot out of both of my hands in a continuous spray, thoroughly soaking the monster as I moved my hands to get all of it wet. When the twin sprays stopped a full minute later, I ignored the Class Up notification that popped up in the top right corner of my vision for the moment, instead smirking as I brought my hands together at the wrist and said "Fry bitch, Lightning X 10!"

A much shorter blast of electricity came out of the paired Sigils, slamming into the thoroughly soaked Grimm which _screamed_ in pain, spasming as much as the Quicksand trap would allow it before a moment later it sagged to the ground, little arcs of electricity running around its body for a few more moments, its tail hanging limp on the ground.

I stared down at the NOT disintegrating monster and said "Huh, I thought for sure that'd kill it." Giving a shrug, I pointed my right hand at its head and said "Oh well, Light!" A single bolt shot out and pierced the Grimm's skull. _Now_ the Grimm was dead, smoke rising off the body and I nodded in satisfaction.

From her spot at the top of her tree, Pyrrha cocked her head and asked "Couldn't you have just done that first?"

I shrugged and said "Could have, but it was a good chance to get a lot of hits in with a spell that doesn't have a lot of power to upgrade it. And since it gave me access to Bubble Beam and Water Shuriken I consider the Aura spent a good trade off."

"Riiight, your 'Spell Sigils' are weird." Pyrrha said after a moment.

"Weird but useful. Now come on, we still need to find those ruins." I said, leaping up off my Barrier hard enough to shatter it. Once I was high enough to get a good view of the area, I quickly found the Ruins, noting the yellow and black dots of BY's hair. Making another Barrier above me, I kicked off it to get back down to Pyrrha's level and said "Found it, follow me."

"Alright." Pyrrha said, and the pair of us quickly made our way to our target destination, staying at tree top level to avoid running into any ground bound Grimm. As such, it was only a minute or so later when we reached the ground in front of the ruins. As I brought our weight back down to normal, I waved at Blake and Yang and said "Hey girls!"

"Hey Tac, I see you managed to snag the Invincible Girl for your partner." Yang said with a thumb's up.

Seeing the resigned look in Pyrrha's eyes at her unwanted title, I rolled my own eyes and said "Yang, I think she'd prefer if you used her name rather than that ridiculous title."

"Oh, sorry." Yang said, giving Pyrrha a sheepish smile.

"Its fine, but I _would_ prefer to be called by my name." Pyrrha said with a small smile of her own.

Yang nodded in understanding before our attention was brought up to the sky as Ruby came falling down head first. Snapping my arms up, I blasted her with Wind Jets, rapidly slowing her speed down, and incidentally flipping her so that way I could catch her in a princess carry. Grunting as she hit my arms, I glanced down at her with a raised eyebrow and said "Glad you could drop by Ruby."

Yang snickered at the joke while Ruby blushed hard enough to imitate her namesake, quickly scrabbling out of my arms. Before anything more could be said, an Ursa stumbled out of the woods, an explosion behind it causing it to fall to the ground, sending Nora rolling off of its back. Apparently, the explosion only knocked the Grimm unconscious not killed it because it remained whole as Nora groaned and said "Aah, it's broken!"

As she zipped back up on the back, she looked it over and said "Eeeew."

As she did that, Ren appeared from behind the Ursa's body, putting one hand on his knee and the other on a bone growth as he panted and said "Nora, _please_, don't ever do that again." He glanced at his friend only to see no girl, a flashing outline of pink lines where she had been.

That was because she was suddenly by the pedestal holding one of the rooks in the ruins. Snatching the rook, she put it on top of her head and with stars and pictures of a hammer in a black circle as her background started singing "I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle!"

"Nora!" Ren called cutting her off and the girl saluted as she said "Coming Ren!"

As Nora skipped back to her partner, Yang asked "Did that girl just come riding in on an Ursa?"

"Yes, yes she did." I said, turning my gaze skyward.

"Uh, what are you looking at?" Yang asked, sounding like she didn't want to know the answer.

"Oh, just Ruby's partner hanging from a Nevermore's talon." I said nonchalantly.

"Oh, is that all." Yang said before blinking and asked "Wait, what?!"

Everyone else turned their heads upwards and there like I said was Weiss hanging with one hand as the Nevermore flew around.

"I can't believe you just left me!" Weiss shouted down.

"I told you to jump!" Ruby shouted back.

"She's going to fall." Blake deadpanned.

"She'll be fine." Ruby said dismissively.

"She's falling." Ren deadpanned.

"Don't worry, I got her." I said easily, repeating the Wind Jet trick I used on Ruby, albeit without the flipping part since Weiss was considerate, or maybe that was unlucky enough, to be falling back first. Catching her easier than Ruby given she used a rapier rather than a giant scythe, I said "You know, just saying this, but as an heiress I think you match the parameters for this hold a bit better than Ruby did."

Weiss' cheeks dusted pink as she brought a fist up to her mouth and coughed once as she said "Yes, well, as true as that may be, could you please set me down?"

I placed her on her feet only to roll my eyes as Yang teased "My, my. I didn't realize you were such a lady's man Tac."

"I'm witty, not Casanova material Yang, I'm perfectly fine staying single for the rest of my life." I said earing raised eyebrows from all six present girls, yes even Nora, before I turned and strode into the ruins, going for the rook Nora didn't take and calling over my shoulder "Ruby, if you want to be on your sister's team then grab the knight."

"Ooh, thanks!" Ruby said, zipping over to the mentioned relic in a burst of rose petals.

"How'd you know I took the Knight?" Yang asked with a tilted head.

"You've got a motorcycle, subconsciously you would choose the horse." I said, lying my ass off before I smirked and said "Plus the head's sticking out of your pocket."

"Oh." Yang said, pushing the relic further down into her pocket.

Anything else that was going to be said was put on hold as the Nevermore above us gave a screech before flapping its wings harder than usual, sending several of them down at us.

"Incoming!" Pyrrha yelled, and the others scattered, Ruby and I ducking under the ruin's rim roof as the feathers slammed into the ground. Glancing up at the giant bird, I glanced back at Ruby and asked "Ruby, do you want to handle that giant turkey with the others or should I take care of it?"

"As if you could take on something that size by yourself!" Weiss retorted from where she and the others were now using the giant feathers for cover.

"You didn't see what he did to the Deathstalker we ran into." Pyrrha countered.

I ignored that though as Ruby gave me a hopeful smile and asked "Would you?"

Nodding, I spun around the pillar and lined up my right hand with the Nevermore as I called out "Light X 100!"

Like with the water spell, what came out of my hand wasn't a collection of bolts but a solid laser. The Nevermore never stood a chance. Not only did the first spell connect with its head, its momentum carried its body across the laser beam's path, cutting it completely in half lengthways. The bodies immediately began falling to the ground trailing black smoke, separating from each other as they did until they crashed through a few trees out of sight with loud crashing sounds.

"AWESOME!" Nora and Ruby shouted together.

"Whoa!" Yang muttered.

"That was impressive." Blake deadpanned with a raised eyebrow, Ren nodding with a hum of agreement.

"H-how did he do that?!" Weiss asked slack jawed.

Meanwhile, I glanced at my phone and said to myself "Huh, only took five percent of my Aura for all of those spells, thought it would be more for some reason. Oh nice, I've got Ellight, Light Lance and Light Ripple now, that last one's sure to be useful against Grimm."

Putting my phone away and clapping my hands to get everyone's attention, I said "Well, I think that's everything! Shall we start heading back to the cliff now?"

"Yeah, I guess we should." Yang said with a nod.

"Then let's go, last one there has to make pancakes for everyone for a month! Of course, when I say everyone, I mean me!" Nora said, zipping off.

Ren sighed, and said "Nora..." Before taking off after her, the rest of us running after the pair, though at a much more reasonable jogging pace.

Time Skip: Later That Day, Beacon Auditorium

The faces of Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang drew together on the overhead screen as Ozpin said "Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long. You four retrieved the White Knight pieces, from now on, you will be Team RWBY, led by Ruby Rose."

Weiss, looked disappointed at the leader designation but not as bad as in the show, showing she had at least a somewhat positive opinion of her partner, who was being hugged by her sister. A moment later, they walked off the stage.

Nora, Ren, Pyrrha, and I walked on after them and Ozpin said "Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Tac Arc. The four of you retrieved the White Rooks. From now on, you shall be Team TPRN (Tupirin, pronounced Tuh-Pi-Rin), led by Tac Arc."

I let out a sigh and said lowly "Glad it's not Turnip like I feared."

"Indeed. Congratulations young man." Ozpin said with a slight smirk.

"Thanks, I'll try not to disappoint you sir." I said with a nod.

"I'm sure you'll do just fine Mr. Arc." Ozpin said, smirk turning into a small but genial smile.

And so our Initiation to Beacon Academy came to an end, and we now had proper classes to look forward to the next morning...joy.

END

Author's Notes: Well, that went longer than I thought at just under seven and a half thousand words but it's done now. Just need to do V2's initiation chapter then I think I'll do the One Piece stories. Also, I've got a new poll on my profile so have a look at that please.


	3. Chapter 3

3\. First Team Meeting Of TPRN and RWBY

After the team naming ceremony, we were shown our dorm rooms. It was explained that our scrolls would serve as our keys to get inside. (Fortunately, a quick test of my Iphone showed that it was compatible with the lock system.) As all of the teams began moving their luggage into their dorms, I caught Ruby's eye and made a spinning gesture with my finger, held up four fingers, then the universal 'talking' gesture. Ruby furrowed her brows for a moment then she nodded in understanding.

Thirty minutes later, while Pyrrha and I were unpacking (Well, me helping her unpack given how little I had) and Ren was trying to get Nora to stop bouncing on her bed and do the same, there was a knock on our door. Quickly walking over and opening it, I saw Team RWBY in the hallway and I stepped back and gestured for them to enter. Thankfully their appearance made Nora FINALLY hop off of her bed.

Gesturing at the beds, I said "Ladies, take a seat please."

"Ruby stated that you wished to speak with us Mr Arc, may I ask what requires a meeting between our teams so soon?" Weiss asked, sitting primly next to Pyrrha. I mentally rolled my eyes at her placement before I made my way to my own bed and gestured for Ruby to join me. Blake meanwhile took a spot on Ren's bed, quickly joined by Yang when it became clear that Nora was not going to let Ren sit anywhere but with her.

Once we were seated, I looked around the room before I pointed my right hand up to the ceiling and said "Bunker." My Spell Sigil flashed green and a shell of shimmering light appeared covering all four walls, ceiling, and floor. The shell contracted a centimeter inwards, lifting everything in the room the slightest bit and I said "Alright, we're secure. Even if someone's trying to use audio spying equipment, they shouldn't be able to detect any vibrations."

"And what might I ask requires such security measures?" Weiss asked with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah Tac, what's with all of the secrecy?" Yang asked. Blake's eyes meanwhile narrowed suspiciously.

I took in a slightly deep breath and said "Ladies, Ren, what I'm about to tell you does not go past any of you, in fact, this is to be considered Top Secret. Lives could quite literally be at stake here, both the members of our Teams and those of Vale in general."

"Seriously?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, what pray tell, could you possibly know that requires such confidence keeping?" Weiss asked with a frown.

"Quite a bit actually. For starters, there's an immortal Witch named Salem using the Grimm as soldiers in her grudge match with a constantly reincarnating Wizard that she was once married to, their four daughters were the original Maidens of Seasons, a mantle which transfers to a new female whenever the previous user dies. Oh, and this Witch is the reason why the planet is called Remnant and the Moon was shattered by the Brother Gods when they left this planet." I said with crossed arms.

"You _must_ be joking." Weiss stated, everyone but Ruby giving me incredulous looks. Seeing Ruby's acceptance of my statements, Weiss turned her gaze on her partner and asked "Surely you don't believe that someone is actually in control of the Grimm, an immortal being at that!"

"Ozpin seems to be leading a group against someone named Salem, and he didn't correct Tac when he called her a literal witch that is thousands of years old." Ruby said with a slight frown.

"And why would you know about some group the Headmaster of this school was leading?" Weiss asked, clearly still disbelieving.

"Well, it's mostly because I'm not a Remnatian, but a Terran, or Earthian if you're one of those Planetarian Naming Nazis. And yes, Earth literally means dirt, my ancestors weren't exactly creative when they got around to naming the celestial bodies of our Solar System."

I got seven disbelieving looks, well okay, six and a raised eyebrow from Ren, as Yang asked "You saying you're an alien?"

"Yep!" I chirped.

"That makes even LESS sense! If you're not even from this planet then how in the Brothers' names would you even know about that?" Weiss asked with hands thrown up.

"Ever hear of the Multiverse Theory?" I asked with a small smile.

Weiss' eyebrows furrowed as she frowned and said "I am afraid that that is not a Theory that I am familiar with."

Everyone else either shook their head or stated the negative. Except for Ren who cocked his head and asked "Multiple versions of the Universe, multiple possibilities, right?"

At everyone else's look, Ren shrugged and said "What? It fits with the name. And if Tac has witnessed this reality in some form of media then it would make sense that he knows some of this world's history."

"Someone get this man a cookie!" I said, pointing at Ren with a grin.

All of a sudden, one of those individually wrapped giant chocolate chip cookies that were about as wide as two adult hands held side by side appeared in Ren's lap startling everyone, even me.

"_What the_?!" Yang asked with wide eyes.

"**COOKIE**!" Ruby and Nora shouted, stars in their eyes as they dived for the treat in Ren's lap only to bounce back as they hit a force field. As the two clutched their heads, mad cackling filled the room.

As everyone else looked around in confusion, I said "And that would be the Random Omnipotent Being who brought me here."

_**"GUILTY AS CHARGED."**_ a multitude of voices said. The air in the center of the room swirled and Taifun appeared in all of his cloaked glory causing all of the others, even Ruby to quickly scuttle backwards, most of them falling off the beds. Taifun let out another cackle before he turned towards me and said in a much more normal voice "Sorry to barge in unannounced, but I realized that I had forgotten a very important thing when I was sending you here Matthew."

"And that would be?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Why, setting your Semblance! It was all well and good giving you War Mage Spell Sigils, but they aren't _actually_ your soul's unique manifestation."

"Riiight, you sure you just didn't do it before so that way you would have an excuse to scare the bajeebies out of the others?" I asked, eyebrow remaining raised.

I just KNEW Taifun was smirking under his cloak as he said "I will neither confirm nor deny that statement." Clapping his gloved hands, he asked "SO, what should we give you? Gas Creation, where if you think it, you can convert your exhale into it, that nifty Gamer skill ID Creation, or Ocular Augmentation, which allows you to enhance your vision to see different spectrums as well as magnification."

"What are the catches?" I asked with narrowed eyes.

Now I knew that Taifun had a pleased grin under his hood as he said "Quick on the uptake as always, Matthew. Obviously, all three will require some amount of Aura to use, but for specifics, for the Gas Creation Semblance, the air that you breathe in then convert will not go into your bloodstream, and of course, you would have to be careful not to breathe in what you just exhaled. ID Creation will take half of your total Aura Reserves to initiate, no matter how large said reserves become. For Ocular Augmentation, the longer you use it, the more of a strain you put on your eyes."

"I'm sorry to interrupt, I know that this is a major decision Tac must make, but what is an 'ID'?" Pyrrha asked.

"Illusionary Dimension. It's basically your own pocket dimension. In most fics where a Gamer has access to them, they can generate enemies to fight against to gain experience for leveling up, and when the enemies are killed they leave various loot drops. Some Gamers can also have buffs such as time dilation and money multiplier effects for their IDs." I said.

"Then what are you waiting for dude, take that one!" Nora said eagerly.

I frowned though and said "Did you not hear the part about taking half of my maximum aura capacity to create the thing in the first place? I'd have to use it in the morning to get full use out of it and if I waste all of my aura inside it and get into to a fight later on in the day or need to heal someone then I won't be as useful to the rest of the team."

"True, as useful as this ability sounds, it does put much greater limitations on you than the other two seem to." Weiss said, moving around the bed to sit down and cross her right leg over her left, face resting in her right hand.

"But think of all of the loot he could get us!" Nora said, hopping back on her bed eagerly.

"Nora, he wouldn't be as helpful in a fight afterwards." Ren said, moving to sit next to her in a much calmer manner. He then proceeded to partially unwrap his cookie and took a bite into it, though not before breaking off a small chunk for Nora who happily accepted it with a hug.

"So let's consider the pros and cons of the other two options." Blake said as she too sat down, the others all doing the same.

"Well, while I could make any kind of gas I imagined, I have a limited lung capacity. And while it's true that I could always accumulate the gas in canisters, I would have to actually buy said gas canisters. Also, there's the chance I could accidently breathe in whatever gas I made so I would also have to buy a respiratory system." I said with a frown.

"Yeah, but think about all of the breath attacks you could have! Frost, Flame, Atomic..." Nora said.

"I can substitute those with my Spell Sigils though." I said with a shrug.

"Well then, it seems like there's really only one choice doesn't it? Still let's keep going with this little exercise. What could you do with Ocular Augmentation?" Weiss asked.

I raised an eyebrow and asked "You want that list in alphabetical order or by type?"

"You make it sound like there are a lot of eye powers out there." Blake said with a cocked head.

"Over a hundred, if you want to get specific." I said with a shrug.

"One hundred and sixteen in fact." Taifun said, idly buffing his gloved fingers on his cloak.

"Holy." Yang said, looking at me with wide eyes.

"Yes well, as amusing as it would be to watch him shoot a laser beam out of his eyes that could fuse two or more of you into one being, Ocular Augmentation, like his Spell Sigils, would be locked to the basic Perception abilities, though like the Spell Sigils, he could unlock a few of the more...esoteric ones." Taifun said before he cocked his head and asked "I assume that that _is_ the Semblance you want Matthew?"

I nodded and said "Yeah, it's really the only one that makes sense to have in conjunction with the Spell Sigils." I then frowned and asked "I'm not going to have to be unconscious for this like last time am I?"

"Nah, I'll just pause time for this one." Taifun said.

"Pause time?!" Weiss asked startled.

"Well I am a ROB." Taifun said nonchalantly.

Before she could say anything to that, I clasped my hands over my eyes as I let out a loud "YEOW! Warn a guy before you do that!"

As I quickly used Recover on my eyes Taifun chuckled and said "Come now Matthew, it's just like popping back in a dislocated joint, it would have hurt more if you tensed up before I started."

"Somehow I doubt me tensing my limbs would have mattered when it comes to changing my _eyes_." I muttered, rubbing the tears of pain away before I blinked a couple of times. A moment later, my eyes turned violet and I glanced around before stopping my gaze on Weiss and said "Huh. Weiss, were you aware that the pin in your hair acted as an amplifier for the surrounding electromagnetic waves?"

"Well, it does have a small Dust coating for emergencies." Weiss said, lightly fingering said hair ornament.

"Welp, looks like Matthew's Microwave Vision is working just fine. Now, I do believe that you lads and lasses were having an important discussion before I popped in so I shall take my leave. Toodles!"

The next instant, he was gone without a trace startling the others, Ruby asking "Uh, is he always like that?"

"_Random_ Omnipotent Being Ruby." I said, blinking my eyes as I cut off my new Semblance turning them back to their original blue color. I then frowned to myself and pulled out my phone when it let out a gong sound. Looking at the screen, I said "At least he added a list of what my eyes can do to the app that shows my Spell Sigil abilities."

"I believe that looking through that list should wait until after we finish our previous discussion Tac." Pyrrha said.

"Right, fair enough. Where were we?" I asked, putting my phone away.

"Multiverse." Ren said, breaking off another piece of his cookie for Nora before taking another bite himself causing Ruby to pout.

"Right. So like Ren said, multiple realities so multiple possibilities. Basically, if someone's thought of it, then it's happened somewhere. This world is no different. In my world, RWBY is a web series created by a now unfortunately deceased Monty Oum. The pilot episode showed Ruby disrupting the robbery of the Dust store Dust to Dawn by Roman Torchwick and follows her team and Team JNPR as they attend Beacon."

"Hold up, _JNPR_?" Yang asked.

Ruby and I both winced as I said "Well, given how I'm originally from another world, someone else was going to be the partner of Pyrrha but unfortunately in this variant he couldn't take that position so Taifun had me take his spot."

Pyrrha frowned and asked "Why couldn't this person come here?"

Ruby winced again and looked at me and asked "Should we show them?"

I sighed and said "They're going to learn eventually." Pulling out my phone again, I went to my text messages app and brought up the picture Ozpin sent. Pausing for a moment, I glanced around the room and said "Fair warning, what you're about to see isn't pretty."

With that warning given, I handed my phone over to Pyrrha who hesitantly took the phone and looked at the picture on it. She let out a short distressed gasp, free hand going up to her mouth as she took in the image. Passing the phone to Weiss, she asked "What's his name?"

"Jaune, Jaune Arc." I said, watching as the others all gained frowns and other sad looks as they saw what had happened to the teen who was supposed to be their schoolmate.

"Arc?" Pyrrha asked and I nodded as I said "I thought it would be fitting to use his last name when I adopted a name appropriate for this world."

"I was wondering why that Taifun character was calling you Matthew, I suppose it would make sense for you to take a new name that fit here. If I may ask, what was your last name?" Weiss asked.

"Bandstra." I said and Nora made a funny face at the word.

"Hm, definitely something that would be odd here." Weiss acknowledged.

Once my phone had made the rounds and was back in my possession, I said "Alright, we've covered how I know what I do and why I am here, let's get to some of the personal knowledge that I have. Now, while I've only actually watched the first season out of seven of RWBY, I have seen various video clips of the rest of the seasons, though admittedly videos where combat was involved. I've also read several fanfictions which included common variables from the source material as well as done reading on the information websites for the show so we can be at least 95% confident in my information. I'll start with Ruby then work my way through the rest of her team."

Turning my head to Ruby, I said "First off, your Silver Eyes aren't just a rare color, they're anti grimm weapons that can petrify or even atomize them. They're powered by the will to preserve life, and would normally take an emotional stress to activate. I believe though that we can work around the stress activation with a bit of hypnosis aided meditation. If you agree, in about a week or so we can try it, with Ozpin, Yang and your father supervising of course."

"You better believe we'll be supervising you hypnotizing her mister." Yang said with crossed arms and narrowed eyes.

I waved my hand at her and said "Yeah, yeah, save the overprotective big sister routine for later Yang." Cocking my head at an understandably excited Ruby, I said "You're also going to have to work on your unarmed combat. In the show, you got separated from Crescent Rose at least once so you need to be able to last long enough to get back to it if such a thing happens here."

Ruby pouted at that but nodded and I turned my gaze to Weiss as I said "On the combat side Weiss, you need to work on your endurance. We're going to be getting into a lot of knock down drag out fights within a year or so. Given how stamina intensive your Semblance is, you need to work on being able to metaphorically run a marathon, not merely a quick hundred meter race." Weiss frowned slightly but nodded her understanding and I continued "I've also got some intel for you about a highly likely raid on a Dust shipment. In the show, when it was about time for the students from the other schools to start arriving for the Vytal festival, Roman Torchwick and a group of extremist White Fang members took a shot at a cargo ship transporting several shipping containers worth of Dust to Vale. Team RWBY and a couple of non Beacon allies were on hand to stop it but a little bit of extra security couldn't hurt."

Weiss' eyes narrowed and she nodded again as she said "Thank you for the head's up, I shall pass along this intel of a possible robbery attempt to my father."

I nodded and said "Speaking of him, try to stay in contact with him at least once a week. In the show, he cut you off during the Vytal Festival because you never talked with him, maybe even ignored his calls." Weiss' frown grew slightly but when she nodded a third time, I turned by gaze to Blake.

Said cat girl had her fists clenched, bunching up the bed sheets she was sitting on top of and I said "First off Blake, I strongly suggest you have a one on one discussion with Weiss. It doesn't have to be now, hell, it doesn't even have to be this week. But a lot of hassle can be avoided if the two of you explain to each other where you're coming from." Blake scowled at that and Weiss' frown turned to one of confusion as she looked at her teammate but I didn't linger on that, and instead said "Also, get with Ruby about upgrading your weapon, its durability if nothing else. Gambol Shroud's blade portion got sliced in half when you and Yang took on Adam the second time."

Blake's eyes widened and a slight look of fear came on her face so I gave her what I hope was a reassuring smile and said "Don't worry, you two beat him that time."

I then turned my look to Yang and my smile turned to a grimace as I said "Yang, I'm not going to sugar coat things. Combat wise, you're in for a rough time of it."

"Okay?" Yang asked with a slightly worried look. A moment later, she firmed her resolve and said "Alright, hit me."

"Alright, for starters, learn how to deal with kick and counter based styles better. Roman Torchwick's partner is a four foot ten slip of a girl and she absolutely wrecked you with her combat style of using a strengthened umbrella and kicks to counter you. Also, your final opponent in the Vytal Festival used leg prosthetics to fight. Speaking of the Vytal Festival, in it, you used your Semblance to win every fight after the qualifiers."

"So?" Yang asked, eyes narrowed. "How's me using my Semblance to win a fight any different than when others use theirs?"

"You know, in the show you asked the exact same question to your dad. He said it's because with you, your Semblance is basically just you having a temper tantrum." Ruby began giggling at that as I continued "Once you take damage, you can dish it back twice as hard but that doesn't make you invincible. It's great when you're in a bind, but what happens when you miss? Or if your opponent is stronger? What then? Now you're just weak and tired." Giving Yang a narrowed look of my own, I said "Yang, your Semblance is a good fall back, but you cannot count on it to win every fight, and you CANNOT allow yourself to let anger take control of you. Because if you do, then you will literally lose a limb."

"What?" Yang asked with wide eyes, the others sharing similar expressions, Ruby's the absolute worse as she put her hands to her mouth with a startled "No."

"Remember that Adam character I just mentioned? In the show, he was kicking Blake around like a crumpled trash can. You went all rage mode and launched a frontal attack at him, and before you could even throw the first punch he sliced your right arm off halfway up your bicep." I said with a frown.

Yang gave a hard swallow at that, left arm grasping her right bicep desperately. Giving her a serious nod, I said "Thankfully, if that DOES happen here, I can use my Regenerate spell to bring your limb back, but I think we can all agree that we want to avoid that outcome."

"Y-yeah." Yang said.

"One last thing that your dad had said in that conversation before we move on. You and your mother both act like the easiest way to tackle an obstacle is through it, that strength is all that matters in a fight. But if you just take a second look, then maybe you see, there's a way around as well."

"That does sound like something dad would say." Ruby said.

There was silence in the room for a few moments before Yang looked up at me and asked "You mentioned mom in that. Do...do you know anything about her?"

I gave a deep sigh and said "Raven Branwren, yeah, I know a bit about her." Locking gazes with her daughter, I said "Fair warning Yang, it's nothing good."

"Please, I have to know." Yang said.

I studied her for a moment before I let out another sigh and said "Raven and Qrow Branwren grew up in a bandit tribe. They were sent to Beacon academy to learn how to handle any Hunter opposition that the tribe would run into. They were half of Team STRQ, the other half composed of Ruby's mother Summer Rose and the father of the two of you Tai Xiao Long, who you obviously share the last name of. Obviously your Uncle has remained around but for reasons that I do not know she returned to the bandit tribe and is now its leader, believing that only the strong should survive."

"I, I see." Yang said, looking down and closing her eyes as she continued "I guess she never really cared about us after all."

"That or she felt that those feelings of caring were a weakness. However, there is one more thing Yang. That partner of Roman's I mentioned? When she had you dead to rights Raven appeared and chased her off. She left immediately after before you recovered but the fact is that she DID save you."

"At least there's that." Yang muttered.

I took in a deep breath through my nose and let it out through my mouth before I gave a sharp shake and pointed at Nora and said "Nora, for you I have only one piece of advice."

"Yes?" Nora asked, perking up.

"Piezo Crystals, find some, have Ruby help you rig them to the smashing end of your weapon and wire them to your grip."

"Ooookay? But what are piezo crystals?" Nora asked in confusion.

"Piezo, short for piezoelectricity is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials in response to applied mechanical stress. A common example is quartz." Weiss stated factually.

I pointed at her before I turned back to Nora and said "Basically, the harder you smash things, the more charge you get, the more souped up you are, the harder you can hit things. In short, you start hitting things, and your strength will only grow during the entire fight."

Nora gasped and said "_That's GENIUS_!"

"That's terrifying." Ren countered with a slightly scared look in his eyes, probably having a day terror about an unstoppable Nora playing wackamole with anything that moved.

"And it has the benefit of being an inbuilt security system. Someone else grabs your weapon and the first time they swing, ZAP!" Ruby said with an eager grin before she perked up even more and said "Oooh! What if we added a storage option, a battery that you can charge up for when you _really_ need a boost in a hurry?"

"I LIKE HOW YOU THINK SISTER!" Nora said with a megawatt grin.

Ren put his head in his hands and said "Congratulations Team Leader, you've created a Monster."

"Good, that means we've got a Monster Trio in our team." I said. Ignoring the confused looks that term drew from the others, I continued "Ren, you've got the same problem as Weiss: Excellent Aura control, bad endurance. I'd recommend you two setting up a time where you could run some laps together or something." The pair let out a slight grimace at that but looked at each other and nodded.

"Which just leaves you Spartan." I said, turning a diabolical grin on her.

"Uh, yes?" Pyrrha asked, looking like she was a little bit afraid of my suggestion for her.

"Two things. First, see if you can work miniature kinetic motors with your Semblance. If the answer is yes, strap them to your sword and shield to add a proper zap to them in combat. Second, get you some magnetic filings. I can't stress enough how much you will throw an enemy off their game if you suddenly hit them in the eyes with metallic sand."

Pyrrha winced and asked "Isn't that second one a bit underhanded?"

I turned dead serious and said "Pyrrha, in the show you fought a woman that took on Ozpin and won, I don't think I need to spell out how THAT turned out for you. If it means keeping you alive then I want you doing more than just blinding someone, I want you manipulating the iron in their damn bloodstream and make them do the Kazotsky Kick if you can get away with it."

Pyrrha flinched at my words, looking down as she nodded and said "Alright Tac, I'll look into both."

"Good. I'm going to TRY and make it so that situation doesn't even have a chance to come about but you know what they say about the plans of mice and men."

Pyrrha nodded again and there was silence for a few moments before I clapped my hands and said "Right, enough with the depressing bit. Let's cover the bad guys you girls will be facing. And no Ren, that's not an insult to you. Team RWBY is a bonafide trouble magnet, comes with being the title team I suppose. First one you'll most likely encounter is Roman Torchwick. Ruby and I had a run in with him a few days before school started and he will continue to be a pain in our asses. This is because like I said before he's allied with the fanatic faction of the White Fang and working indirectly under Salem, taking orders from her chess 'queen' Cinder Fall, more on her later. I'm sure you all have seen him on the news before but just in case here's his bio: He's a Human Male, Six foot three inches, Orange hair with green eyes, weapon is a cane that fires explosive flares called Melodic Cudgel, and he's right handed. Semblance is unknown, he might not know what it is. He normally wears a red lined suit with long black pants and black shoes, accessories are a small gray scarf, black gloves with buckled sleeves, and a black bowler hat. Finally, the guy is a chronic smoker, almost always has a cigar in his mouth."

"That's pretty detailed." Yang said slightly staring at me, as were the others barring Ruby.

"I was a fanfiction author before I came here Yang, the good ones tend to do their research." I said with a shrug before I continued "Next up is his partner Neo, short for Neopolitan. Human female, Four foot ten inches, Normal hair color is a combination of pink and brown, hence her name, eye color has been shown to be Brown, Pink and Cream normally though she has used other colors. Usual outfit is a white tail jacket with a pink interior, broad tail on the back, brown pants, black gloves, and black and white boots with very high heels that are buttoned on the side up to just below her knees. She wears a brown corset under her jacket and likes to wear a lot of necklaces. Weapon is a cane sword hidden inside of a heavily reinforced umbrella and she's right handed. On top of her excellent combat ability that mixes kicks with her umbrella, her Semblance is a goddamned nightmare to go against. Her wiki page called it Overactive Imagination and a fitting name it is. Basically, she's able to create physical illusions that can be seen by everyone, which shatter like glass when broken. They are highly realistic and she uses them in her role as an infiltration specialist, altering her appearance to avoid detection, and they're not limited to just disguising herself, I saw a video clip once where she used her semblance to change the appearance of an entire bullhead."

"Next up we have Salem's piece on the Vale game board. Cinder Fall is as deadly as she is beautiful. She's Five feet and eleven inches of femme fatale and she knows it. Her hair's black, and her eyes are amber. Unlike Neo and Roman, she doesn't stick with just one outfit but she does have a preference for a red shoulder less dress, if only for the fact that it has Dust sewn into it. Her Semblance is called Scorching Caress. It gives her a bit of pyrokinesis as well as making molten glass weapons. She likes to make two swords which she can then combine into a bow, which she can fire up to three arrows from with superb accuracy. Also, she's not afraid to block high impact rounds with just her aura, as proven when Ruby tried to shoot her when we and Professor Goodwitch faced her a few nights ago." I looked around the room with serious eyes and said "If any of you come across her one on one, my advice is to avoid direct confrontation until you get backup of at LEAST team strength, and even then to exercise extreme caution. In the show, this woman took Ozpin on head to head and came out top. I can literally NOT stress how dangerous this woman is. She's so dangerous that if I wind up in a fight against her I'm ninety nine point nine nine percent sure I'll be using my Water Hole spell right out the gate to convert her body into water, need for intel on Salem be damned."

There was silence from the others for a few moments before Nora said "Damn dude."

"Right, see black haired chick throwing around fire balls stay the hell away." Yang said with a nod, the others nodding in agreement. Pyrrha had a troubled look on her face but remained silent.

I gave my partner a quick glance before I shook my head and said "Cinder has two subordinates who follow her around. The first one is Emerald Sustrai, and she is as big a pain in the ass to go against as Neo. She's five foot eight with mint green hair and red eyes. Her weapons are called Thief's Respite, and are a pair of revolver sickles, more specifically Kusarigama with the chain ends connected to the handles. But while she has a rather long reach when using them in melee, it's her Semblance that's the real problem. It's called Hallucinations, and as you can guess by the name, it allows her to modify the sensory information in a person's head while their brain is processing it."

"So in other words, instead of generating an illusion that everyone nearby can see like Neo, she affects the target's mind directly." Weiss said.

I nodded and said "Exactly. In fact, in the Vytal Festival one on one rounds, she made Yang think that her partner was attacking her after the match was already decided causing her to shoot him in the leg."

"What?!" Yang asked, eyes turning red. Ruby also clenched her fists, a rather harsh look in her eyes as she let out a low growl.

"Easy you two, Ozpin has already been told of that happening in the show, and now that you yourself know about it Yang, you can avoid falling for the trick here." I said, rubbing a hand along Ruby's back to help calm her down.

"I don't suppose I could break this bitch's legs when we run into her?" Nora asked.

"Tempting, but no. She might just make it so that you actually broke someone else's legs instead. Leave her to me, once I level up my Spell Sigils I'll have multiple sensory techniques that I can use to track her that she won't know about and thus can't affect."

The two teams didn't look completely happy about that but they nodded anyways and I continued "Speaking about her partner, his name is Mercury Black. He's five foot ten inches with Silvery Gray hair and eyes, though in the first volume of the show both were violet, but I'm running on the assumption that he died his hair and were color changing contact lenses during that time. He's right handed though that doesn't really have anything to do with his weapons. They're called Talaria and they are a large pair of boots with firing mechanisms built into them, similar to Yang's Ember Celica. However, Talaria are only half of his weapon arsenal. The other half are his prosthetic legs which are capable of shooting air blasts. Best way to limit his ability to contribute to a fight would be either Pyrrha ripping them out with her polarity, Weiss trapping his legs with really thick ice, or me shocking him through them with my Static Field spell." I then grinned at Nora and said "Breaking his legs work as well."

Nora snickered while Ren sighed and said "Please don't encourage her Tac."

"Hang on, what about this guy's Semblance?" Blake asked.

"He doesn't have one." I said. At their looks, I shrugged and said "Or rather, his was stolen. When he unlocked it, his bastard of a father somehow used his own Semblance to steal Mercury's and claimed that he would get it back when he got stronger. However, Mercury never did get it back, partly because he wound up killing said father."

"And I thought that my father was a poor role model." Weiss said with a frown.

I gave her a quick glance before I said "There's one final enemy I want to tell you guys about. Adam Taurus is the leader of the Whit Fang's Vale branch of the White Fang and he is a real piece of work." Blake clenched her fists into the bed sheets again but I ignored that as I said "He's a bull faunus that's an impressive six foot four inches tall, has reddish brown hair with two swept back bull horns, a blue right eye, and a gray iris with red sclera for the left. The reason for WHY his left eye is like that is due to the SDC logo that was branded on his face when he was part of the Faunus labor force of the Schnee Dust Company." I gave Weiss a pointed look at that and she recoiled with a horrified look on her face, an expression most of the others mimicked, though Blake's had anger in hers as well. Shaking my head, I said "Adam hides this brand with a mask that covers his entire upper face above his nose. Moving on from appearance to weapons, his weapons are called Wilt and Blush, a red sword, I _think_ a chokuto, and a scabbard that doubles as a rifle respectively. His Semblance is Moonslice and it works in a manner rather similar to Yang's. He stores any energy that comes into contact with Wilt and then releases it all at once. I'm pretty sure that he can hold onto the energy for as long as he wants though I doubt it's easy to do so while he's asleep if that's the case. Also, everything that's red on him glows when he absorbs the energy so if you see him glowing, stay the hell away from him. In the show, he used it to slice right through Yang's aura like it wasn't even there. However, Adam is far from unstoppable. Get his sword away from him and he's practically helpless. Also, he's got an incredibly bad case of tunnel vision syndrome. If the object of his fixation of the time can last against him long enough it's possible for others to be gathered to gang up on him. Also Ruby, I read a fanfic where you managed to go one on one against him and the end result was him cowering in a river bank for an hour with a bit of skin from the back of his neck on your scythe blade. Now, this story was after a time skip period and it WAS fanfiction, but given your experience with Yang's own Semblance, it's possible that given enough training you have a decent chance at taking him on. However, unless there are no other options do NOT try to test that."

"I second that Ruby, unless there's no other choice I want you staying the hell away from this guy." Yang said, eyes red. Blake and even Weiss nodded in enthusiastic agreement and Ruby nodded her own agreement as she said "Right, stay away from the pissed off bull unless there are no other options."

"That goes for you three as well, I don't want you three anywhere near Adam in a fight. Given her track record, Pyrrha might have a good shot at holding him off but even her blocking his sword with her shield would help power up his Semblance so I don't want any of you taking any chances with him."

"What about you? I notice that you didn't say that you would avoid him." Ren asked with narrowed eyes.

I let out a grin that had Ruby quickly scooting away from me and the others letting out flinches as I said "Oh that's easy, if I ever run into the guy then right out the gate I'm either going to use Water Hole to turn him into H2O or if we're outside use Reverse on him."

"I'm almost scared to ask but, 'Reverse'?" Weiss asked.

"It reverses the effect the planet's gravity has on a person. Six seconds after using it on a target they'll be outside the planet's atmosphere." I said.

"_Damn_." Yang and Nora said together, eyes wide.

"That's certainly an...effective ability." Weiss allowed.

"Terrifying is more like it." Blake said, shaking her head as she continued "I imagine even using it indoors could be devastating."

"Yeah, but clean up wouldn't exactly be easy." I said with a shrug.

"Oh gods." Ruby said, quickly putting a hand over her mouth and looking decidedly green, a hue that the others matched to some degree or another.

"Tac, as your partner, I'm requesting that you DON'T use that spell indoors." Pyrrha said with a shudder.

"I'll keep your request in mind." I said giving another shrug. It wasn't like I didn't have any other options to use.

"_Moving on_," Weiss said, shaking her head slightly before she continued "Tac, you have covered where we can improve our combat ability and enemies we should be aware of, is there anything else you wished to inform us of?"

"Yes, call signs. Whether or not Team RWBY has them is completely up to its leader of course but TPRN will be using call signs while out in the field. Now, if you have something you'd rather use you can run it by me but for now I thought that I would go by War Mage, WM for short, Pyrrha would be Spartan, SP, for short, Nora would be Lady Thor, LT, for short, and Ren would be Zen Monk, ZM for short."

Nora raised her hand and asked "Question: Who's Thor?"

"Thor is the god of thunder and lightning in Norse mythology, associated with strength, storms, hallowing and fertility. Also uses an incredibly dense hammer as his weapon." I said.

"Huh, neat." Nora said. A moment later, she shrugged and said "Sure, I'll take Lady Thor for a codename."

"Ren?" I asked, turning my gaze to him.

"Zen Monk shall be fine as a call sign." Ren said with a slight nod.

"Code Name Ren, it's much cooler than call sign. Makes it sound like we're spies or secret agents." Nora said, nudging her together but not together together friend.

"Nora, those are the same thing." Ren said calmly.

As the two bantered, Ruby hummed in thought and said "I guess our team should have call signs as well."

"Hey, you won't get any argument from me, Call Signs are cool." Yang said with a smile.

"It would be wise to prevent any enemies that obtain access to our communications from learning our names." Blake said, also nodding.

The three girls looked at Weiss who sighed slightly, though her lips were subtly twitching upwards as she said "Oh fine, we can use Call Signs. However! I reserve the right of choosing my own as well as what I will call the rest of you if I do not approve the chosen names."

"Alright." Ruby said happily before she put a finger to her chin and said "Hm, I think that I'll go with Red Reaper!"

I crossed my arms and made a buzzer sound before I said "It's not a good idea to use words that share first letters with your names, makes it easier for any enemies listening in on your coms to figure out which name goes with who if they happen to have intel on who you are."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Ruby said. A few moments of more thought, she nodded and pointed her thumb at herself "Crimson Cutter, CC for short." Pointer finger at her partner "Silver Lady, SL for short." Pointing at Blake she continued "Nightshade, NI for short." Finally, she pointed at Yang and said "And Sunflower, SF for short."

Weiss nodded her head and said "I find these names adequate."

"That means she likes them." I said with a fake yet low whisper causing Ruby to giggle and Yang to chuckle. I then continued in a normal voice "I think they're good too though I would have called Blake Kunoichi and Yang Fireball."

"Ooh, those _are_ good ones." Ruby said.

"Yeah, but I'll stick with the one you gave me sis. After all, sunflowers last a lot longer than fireballs do." Yang said. If she did so in order to gain points with her sister, she succeeded going by the beaming look Ruby gave her.

"I believe that I shall stick with Nightshade as well. Kunoichi brings to mind seduction missions." Blake said, seemingly tonelessly.

I gave a slight wince and said "Right, forgot about that part of the job description for a moment there, sorry."

Blake nodded and said "Anything else?"

"No, I think that's everything. I need to secure a method of using the Primary spells of my different Elements a hundred times each but that's a me problem and not a team problem so I do believe that we can call this meeting to an end." I said. Seeing as how no one was stepping up with anything themselves, I dropped the barrier and said "Alright then. TPRN, start unpacking, RWBY, don't forget classes start at nine o'clock tomorrow morning."

"Understood, come along girls, we should also unpack our things." Weis said, standing up and smoothing down her shirt before making her way out of the room, the other three members of RWBY doing the same.

Once they were outside, I rubbed at my face with my hands and said lowly to myself "This is going to be a LOOONG four years. And that's IF we manage to keep things from happening the way they did in the show and actually stay here for the full four years."

"Don't worry Tac, now that we know who we need to break the legs of it'll be much easier! Besides, we have a War Mage now. That's gotta make it even better for us right?" Nora asked eagerly.

My lips ticked upwards and said "Fair enough, after all, I believe the technical term for my Spell Sigils is Bull Shit."

"While I don't approve of the language, you are correct that they shall provide us quite the edge." Pyrrha said before she stood up from her bed and said "Now then, I believe we should get to unpacking."

"Right." I said as the rest of us also stood up and moved to our luggage. Some of the classes were sure to be quite boring, especially Professor Port's. At least there will be a Grimm fight to watch...

END

Author's Notes: Phew, Three Weeks between finishing this and the latest two chapters of Sensors. I do apologize for that, it took me a while to decide which story to write and then even more to even get STARTED on it. Doesn't help that I slept for twelve hours straight the night before I finished writing it...

Anyways, you guys know the drill, Version 2 is next and should be a lot quicker to get out so see you again in a few days.


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